These 61 high school girls came from different Indianapolis Public Schools — they were selected because of their leadership, according to one of the students — but all had the opportunity to come to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to hear from various women in different roles for IndyCar at the first Fuel the Female event.

“I think this experience is great, especially since we’re all women,” Washington senior Davion Moore said. “It’s like women empowerment to be honest. It’s good for us to see stuff like that. As women, we always get put down. We can’t do this, we can’t do that. There’s really strong women out here and this is a great opportunity for us."

The highlight of the day for many of the girls was hearing from Patrick. When she entered the suite, the girls cheered.

Patrick stressed that they should make follow their passion in chooisng a career.

“Find something you actually freaking like to do,” Patrick said.

Patrick was asked if anyone had ever told her that she couldn’t become a racecar driver.

“I wouldn’t say I ever had people tell me I couldn’t do this early,” Patrick said. “I don’t doubt that there were many people that didn’t think I could do this. You can feel that.”

Patrick spoke about the businesses she started, which include making wine and starting a clothing line. She also wrote a book. As she left the suite, she yelled, “Dream big!”

"That's the next phase of moving life after racing, spread that message of empowerment and dreaming and finding what you love to do," Patrick said.

For Washington senior Gabriella Arceo, meeting Patrick was proof that women can make it big.

“I felt it’s just very good to have a role model like (Danica) that went into an all-male industry and became successful from it,” Arceo said.

The first speakers were engineers – Cara Adams of Firestone Racing and Kate Gundlach of Chip Ganassi Racing.

After that, the students heard from Bridgestone Americas Director of Motorsports Lisa Boggs. The focus of her message was that they control who they are and who they want to be, along with finding a skillset that sets them apart.

“How do you show up as a person?” Boggs asked.

After Patrick, the girls heard from Kate Guerra, senior manager for national media outreach for INDYCAR. Guerra discussed her career path and how having women in the workplace helps bring a unique perspective.

The final speaker was Andretti Autosport mechanic Jessica Mace.

“My biggest piece of advice is get dirty,” Mace said. “Get out there and do it. Don’t be afraid.”

Each speaker offered her own advice to the students. For the girls, they got to see women breaking stereotypes.

“Females in racing, you usually go, ‘It’s dangerous,'” Moore said. "Women can do it, too, and they are showing us this right now.”